My Impromptu Artie Lange Encounter This Summer In New York

I'm a longtime lurker and recent poster but I thought I'd share this story (even though it's about six months old.) I was checking out Prometheus this summer at a movie theater near Lincoln Center (a few blocks from HS's place, coincidentally.) After the flick, I was hanging outside waiting for my buddy to have a squirt when I see an overweight sloppy guy come waddling down the street. It's Artie.

In the least creepy way I could I said a quick hello and we chatted for a bit. Artie was incredibly cool, clearly sober, and seemed generally happy to be out and about. He was telling me about his new book and some other "cool projects" I needed to look out for. This was all pretty interesting because at this point, Artie sighting were pretty rare.

My question to you guys: At one point in Artie's return from his suicide attempt, recovery, etc. do you suspect he relapsed back into the clutches of heroin or whatever it is he appears to be on in some of those Nick & Artie Show videos posted here a while back? To the listeners of the new Artie show, does he seem fucked-up on air is he holding it together? I like Artie and I guess after running into him and thinking he was on the mend I was bummed (though not really surprised) to learn that he had fallen off the wagon again.
Artie and Straight Edge (my face is removed for obvious reasons.)